A Murder at the End of the World season 1 episode 2 follows Darby Hart (Emma Corin) as she believes the death she witnessed may be murder, but no one believes her; the grief and shock of the events thrust her into remembering her own buried past. The episode is called “Chapter Two: The Silver Doe,” after the name of the true crime novel Darby wrote. As we watch events unfold in the present day, we are simultaneously thrust into the story of The Silver Doe.
Episode 2 of the series begins immediately following the cliffhanger of the pilot: Billy (Harris Dickinson) gasps for air as Darby watches. Darby takes charge and employs security to summon Sian (Alica Braga), a brazilian doctor who eventually became the first woman to walk on the moon, for assistance.
Due to the trauma, Darby has flashbacks– a young Darby at a crime scene with her Father, as she sees her first dead body. In the present, despite Sian’s efforts, Bill dies. Andy arrives at the scene and attempts to console Darby. Andy has her brought to her room, where the wife of the head of security gives her sleeping pills so she can fall asleep, given all she’s been through.
Darby opts for the sleeping pill and drifts into a flashback of when she used to help her father canvas murder scenes. One in particular strikes her as strange, as the body was buried with only a pair of silver earrings. Darby becomes fixated on this case, as feels immense guilt for what was deemed an unidentifiable girl. Back at the coroner’s office, she helps her dad clean the remains, where we hear the saying, “No ID, no case.”
Her father asks Darby to bring the remains to storage, and as she does, she steals the earrings in order to do her own investigation. Research leads her to a list of Jane Does with silver earrings. While doing research, K!LLB!LL, aka Bill, reaches out to her via messages surrounding the case. He helps her push deeper as to what she knows. Eventually, Bill requests to video call, and Bill and Darby officially meet for the first time.
In the present, Darby wakes up and attends breakfast, where Lee hugs her and gives her condolences. Andy reveals Bill’s overdose, sparking Darby’s skepticism. Conflicted, she encodes her ring for added access and explores Bill’s room. Inside, she gathers some clues revealing that it doesn’t seem likely Bill had been injecting himself. She looks at the needle and, using baby powder, discovers that the needle has no fingerprints, concluding that the user wore gloves.
Darby hears a commotion outside the door and hides. Lee enters. Lee looks around in his bag and doesn’t find anything. Lee almost discovers Darby but is distracted by something outside the room and leaves. Darby leaves the room as well.
Dabry follows Lee to a meeting where Martin (Jermaine Fowler), a master filmmaker, presents his new film. While the film plays, Darby sits next to Lee and tells her that Bill didn’t kill himself and that they are probably sitting in the same room as the person who killed him. Lee gives Darby a hint on how she can hack the doorbell cameras using one of Lee’s old algorithms. Darby starts trying to figure out how to get into the door cameras, needing an SSID.
Darby takes a break to smoke a joint as we slip back into a flashback. Darby sits on the phone with Bill as they continue their Silver Doe investigation. Darby and Bill grow closer. Darby gets further into the investigation as she discovers that someone survived this serial killer in Missouri.
She gets nervous as Bill says he’ll pick her up and they can talk to the survivor since she has yet to meet Bill in person. The next day, Bill calls her and tells her to follow his directions Bill leads her bike to train tracks. The line disconnects, and Darby gets nervous. Then the lights begin flashing, Bill shows off a hack as the lights flash Morse code: “Happy birthday, Darby.”
In the present, Darby uses the smart light in her room and is able to get the SSID and password, which allows her to view the door video footage. Darby discovers a white masked person on the camera right before Bill is killed. Just then, Darby hears the ambulance arrive and watches as they take Bill’s body away. The episode ends in the flashback, as Darby is dropped off at a tavern and meets Bill in person for the first time.
In A Murder at the End of the World season 1, episode 2, showrunners Brit Marling and Zal Batmanglij do an excellent job furthering the mystery while also giving us more of Darby’s backstory. Overall, this episode is a really good follow-up to the first as the mystery continues to unfold.
Rating 8/10